Is Web Based Seminar an Effective Way of Learning as a Part of Information Management and Information Systems Development Course?

We organized a web-based coursework (feasibility study) and seminar during our information management and information systems development course for some students (experimental group). The students worked on the given development problems of information systems in small groups. For the web-based seminar each group had their own workspace in the Web CT environment for publishing and presenting coursework. At the final phase of the coursework the students familiarized themselves with the presentations of other groups. After this course we ran the same course including a conventional coursework for other students (control group). We found that the WWW-based coursework and seminar have equal effect on learning different themes of the course. The students of IT faculty benefited more from the web-based coursework in the learning of building information systems. The Web CT-based coursework suits a little bit better for older students and it can enable effective group work in the bigger grou

Controlling Risk of Web Question Answering

Web question answering (QA) has become an indispensable component in modern search systems, which can significantly improve users' search experience by providing a direct answer to users' information need. This could be achieved by applying machine reading comprehension (MRC) models over the retrieved passages to extract answers with respect to the search query. With the development of deep learning techniques, state-of-the-art MRC performances have been achieved by recent deep methods. However, existing studies on MRC seldom address the predictive uncertainty issue, i.e., how likely the prediction of an MRC model is wrong, leading to uncontrollable risks in real-world Web QA applications. In this work, we first conduct an in-depth investigation over the risk of Web QA. We then introduce a novel risk control framework, which consists of a qualify model for uncertainty estimation using the probe idea, and a decision model for selectively output. For evaluation, we introduce risk-related metrics, rather than the traditional EM and F1 in MRC, for the evaluation of risk-aware Web QA. The empirical results over both the real-world Web QA dataset and the academic MRC benchmark collection demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.Comment: 42nd International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieva

IREEL: remote experimentation with real protocols and applications over emulated network

This paper presents a novel e-learning platform called IREEL. IREEL is a virtual laboratory allowing students to drive experiments with real Internet applications and end-to-end protocols in the context of networking courses. This platform consists in a remote network emulator offering a set of predefined applications and protocol mechanisms. Experimenters configure and control the emulation and the end-systems behavior in order to perform tests, measurements and observations on protocols or applications operating under controlled specific networking conditions. A set of end-to-end mechanisms, mainly focusing on transport and application level protocols, are currently available. IREEL is scalable and easy to use thanks to an ergonomic web interface

Occupancy Estimation Using Low-Cost Wi-Fi Sniffers

Real-time measurements on the occupancy status of indoor and outdoor spaces can be exploited in many scenarios (HVAC and lighting system control, building energy optimization, allocation and reservation of spaces, etc.). Traditional systems for occupancy estimation rely on environmental sensors (CO2, temperature, humidity) or video cameras. In this paper, we depart from such traditional approaches and propose a novel occupancy estimation system which is based on the capture of Wi-Fi management packets from users' devices. The system, implemented on a low-cost ESP8266 microcontroller, leverages a supervised learning model to adapt to different spaces and transmits occupancy information through the MQTT protocol to a web-based dashboard. Experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed solution in four different indoor university spaces.Comment: Submitted to Balkancom 201

Why (and How) Networks Should Run Themselves

The proliferation of networked devices, systems, and applications that we depend on every day makes managing networks more important than ever. The increasing security, availability, and performance demands of these applications suggest that these increasingly difficult network management problems be solved in real time, across a complex web of interacting protocols and systems. Alas, just as the importance of network management has increased, the network has grown so complex that it is seemingly unmanageable. In this new era, network management requires a fundamentally new approach. Instead of optimizations based on closed-form analysis of individual protocols, network operators need data-driven, machine-learning-based models of end-to-end and application performance based on high-level policy goals and a holistic view of the underlying components. Instead of anomaly detection algorithms that operate on offline analysis of network traces, operators need classification and detection algorithms that can make real-time, closed-loop decisions. Networks should learn to drive themselves. This paper explores this concept, discussing how we might attain this ambitious goal by more closely coupling measurement with real-time control and by relying on learning for inference and prediction about a networked application or system, as opposed to closed-form analysis of individual protocols

Faculty response to that implementation of an open source learning management system in three tertiary Institutions in New Zealand

In spite of their apparent benefits, learning management systems can be regarded as a hindrance to effective online learning. Their design, functionality, complexity, price, and value are beginning to be questioned by some users. As a new generation of Web-based tools and approaches evolves, Web-based learning management systems are becoming better suited to meet the need for dynamic online learning, interaction, collaboration, and networking. The new tools and collaborative approaches these systems provide allow learners to take proactive control of their own learning. In June 2004 a consortium of New Zealand Tertiary Institutions led by the Waikato Institute of Technology secured a one-year Ministry of Education grant to support the Open Source Courseware Initiative New Zealand (OSCINZ). The OSCINZ project focused on the development and implementation of Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) to create a uniquely New Zealand learning management system, based on quality open source code developed and tested by leading educational providers. This paper describes the response of faculty in three of the project\u27s partner tertiary institutions to the implementation of Moodle in their institutions. © 2007 The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved

Work-in-Progress: Enhancing Conceptual Understanding by Using a Real-Time Online Class Response System in Engineering Courses

To engage students, and assess students’ understanding in real-time, Classroom Response Systems (CRS), have been increasingly used in many engineering classrooms. Previous research has shown that CRS can enhance students’ participation, promote active learning, and develop their critical thinking skills. It can also generate either neutral or positive learning outcomes depending on whether it is combined with other cooperative learning strategies. This paper presents a collaborative study on how to combine the implementation of a web-based CRS with class discussion to clarify student misconceptions in a freshman-level engineering graphics course, a sophomore-level dynamics course, and a senior-level control systems course at a small private institution in the Southeast. The purpose of the study is to evaluate how web-based CRS combined with class discussion can be used to engage students in class, catch their misconceptions, promote their critical thinking skills, and improve their academic performance in different engineering courses. Anonymous surveys were implemented to collect student\u27s feedback on their attitude towards the use of web- based CRS. The test results from three courses were collected to assess the effectiveness of web- based CRS and class discussion on improving students’ academic performance

Self-* overload control for distributed web systems

Unexpected increases in demand and most of all flash crowds are considered the bane of every web application as they may cause intolerable delays or even service unavailability. Proper quality of service policies must guarantee rapid reactivity and responsiveness even in such critical situations. Previous solutions fail to meet common performance requirements when the system has to face sudden and unpredictable surges of traffic. Indeed they often rely on a proper setting of key parameters which requires laborious manual tuning, preventing a fast adaptation of the control policies. We contribute an original Self-* Overload Control (SOC) policy. This allows the system to self-configure a dynamic constraint on the rate of admitted sessions in order to respect service level agreements and maximize the resource utilization at the same time. Our policy does not require any prior information on the incoming traffic or manual configuration of key parameters. We ran extensive simulations under a wide range of operating conditions, showing that SOC rapidly adapts to time varying traffic and self-optimizes the resource utilization. It admits as many new sessions as possible in observance of the agreements, even under intense workload variations. We compared our algorithm to previously proposed approaches highlighting a more stable behavior and a better performance.Comment: The full version of this paper, titled "Self-* through self-learning: overload control for distributed web systems", has been published on Computer Networks, Elsevier. The simulator used for the evaluation of the proposed algorithm is available for download at the address: http://www.dsi.uniroma1.it/~novella/qos_web

Web-based Cooperative Learning, Learning Styles, And Student's Learning Outcomes

This study was aimed to examine the effect of the instructional learning strategy (webbased STAD-type cooperative and text-based STAD-type cooperative learning strategies) and learning styles towards student learning achievement. This quasi-experimental study used a non-equivalent control group version of the factorial design. The subjects were the first-semester undergraduate students of Information Systems at STIKOM Surabaya. Sixty-nine (69) students were involved, 34 of whom were the subjects of the experimental group and 35 were the subjects of the control group. The collected data were statistically analyzed by using the two-way analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) with the significance level of 0.05. The findings of this research indicate that there was a significant difference in learning achievement, for the General Management course, between groups of students taught with the web-based STAD-type cooperative learning strategies and those taught with the text-based STAD-type cooperative learning strategies. Based on the findings, the researcher suggests lecturers to implement the STAD-type cooperative learning strategies, and use the web-based and text-based strategies simultaneously (complementarily) in the form of blended learning

As simple as pressing a button? A review of the literature on BigBlueButton

BigBlueButton is an open source virtual classroom software. Since this software was released in 2009, many studies have explored how to use it, especially for e-learning. However, to date, there is no published systematic synthesis of the relevant literature on the subject. This literature review appraises the effectiveness of BigBlueButton in educational settings and pulls relevant pieces of information together into a readable format. The main conclusion is that BigBlueButton is intuitive, interoperable with other software and has the potential to positively affect the learning performance of students. Despite the features and functionalities of BigBlueButton, several limitations are apparent: web conference educators have less control over online teaching compared with their face-to-face counterparts, practical subjects are difficult to teach through web conferencing, technical challenges may affect web-conferencing sessions, web conferencing requires skills additional to those of conventional teaching, cultural differences may affect students' attitudes towards web conference-based learning and educators that teach through web conferencing may feel isolated in their role, both geographically and collegially. By reviewing the features, potential impacts and limitations of BigBlueButton, this study contributes to the growing literature on web conferencing systems and provides insights into the role of BigBlueButton in e-learning. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V